Mr. and Mrs. Jha have come into a sum of money that will allow them to move to a wealthy community, leaving behind the long-time friends of their humble Delhi apartment complex. But keeping up with the Chopras proves more difficult than expected: while Mr. Jha is eager to fit in (making extravagant purchases at every turn), Mrs. Jha is less enthusiastic. This debut, an engaging comedy of manners, gently skewers India's upwardly mobile middle classes while emphasizing the importance of family bonds.

"Live all you can; it's a mistake not to." This is the maxim of celebrated author Henry James and one which his typist Frieda Wroth tries to live up to. Admiring of the great author, she nevertheless feels marginalized and undervalued in her role. But when the dashing Morton Fullerton comes to visit, Frieda finds herself at the center of an intrigue every bit as engrossing as the novels she types, bringing her into conflict with the flamboyant Edith Wharton, and compromising her loyalty to James.

Less than a year after their breakup, midlist novelist Arthur Less is invited to his ex-boyfriend's wedding. Not wanting to go but lacking (so far) a compelling reason to RSVP his regrets, he accepts every other invitation that comes his way, traveling to New York, Mexico, Morocco, and other far-flung destinations. In his efforts to run away from facing the fact that he has irrevocably lost the love of his life, however, he finds other reasons to live -- though of course he's got to endure some comically wrong turns first. With a surprising narrator (you'll find out at the end who) and flawed but sympathetic characters, Less is a poignant meditation on the universal search for love and happiness.

This heart-wrenching debut is set in Johannesburg in the 1970s, a time of great upheaval and violence. It features a young white girl, Robin, whose parents have been killed, and a visiting Xhosa woman, Beauty, searching for her own daughter, who has disappeared in the Soweto uprisings. When Beauty is hired as a caretaker for Robin, they build a tentative bond despite the restrictions of apartheid. Both Robin and Beauty share narrative duties, often relaying their perspectives of the same events, and bearing a moving message of equality.

As the title suggests, this compelling, brooding debut novel will appeal to fans of modern Westerns, with its themes of justice, vengeance, and rivalry...as well as plenty of horsemanship. Set in modern-day Marin, in northern California, it opens as Silas Van Loy has killed his brother, saddled up his horse, and begun making his escape. The relationship between the two brothers -- antagonistic, resentful, and competitive -- unfolds through flashbacks as Silas flees, with his sister-in-law in hot pursuit, intent on revenge.

One game. Six students. Five survivors. A game of consequences, of silly forfeits, childish dares. A game to be played by six best friends in their first year at Oxford University. But the game changed: the stakes grew higher and the dares more personal. The eventual winner stood to walk away with a substantial sum staked to them by a mysterious campus organisation known as the Game Society provided the students agreed to keep both the Game and its sponsorship secret. Now, fourteen years later, one player, who believed he had fled the Game long ago, discovers that it is far from over; the remaining players must meet for the final round.

This debut novel takes place at the elite Seoul National University in 1970s South Korea during a repressive regime. The novel follows two women--Jisun, the daughter of a powerful tycoon, who eschews her privilege to become an underground labor activist in Seoul; and Namin, her best friend, a brilliant, tireless girl who has grown up with nothing, and whose goal is to launch her family out of poverty. Drawn to both is Sunam, a seeming social-climber who is at heart a lost boy struggling to find his place in a cutthroat world. And a casual friend is Junho, whose ambitions have taken him to university's most prestigious social club, called "the circle," and who guards a dangerous secret that is tied to his status. Wuertz explores the relationships that bind these students to each other, as well as the anxieties and desires driving them to succeed.

Naomi Roth is the first woman president of an elite progressive college; her first major challenge had been a transitioning transgender student living in a women-only dorm, so this year's protest against a denial of tenure seems easy enough to handle at first. But that's before a charming student activist steps up to take the lead in pushing things ever further. The students believe the denial is racially motivated (it's not, but Roth can't share the real reasons), and the debate soon captures media attention. Dramatic and centered on very real issues, this novel could be torn from the headlines; for another academia-centered novel from the same author, try Admission.

Sly and satirical, this novel is told entirely through the biting letters of one overwhelmed college professor, who claims that the demands of academia require more letters of recommendation than published articles. Budget cuts, staff eliminations, favoritism, and other small indignities find their way into his endless stream of comical, frank, and sometimes passive-aggressive letters. Pick this up if you enjoyed Aaron Thiel's similarly college-set Ghost Apple.

Agnes, a young college student in the early 1990s, is running out of people she can count on. She is caught between the broken home she leaves behind and the wilderness of campus life. What she needs most is her mother, who has seemingly disappeared, and her brother, who left the family tragically a few years prior. As Agnes falls into new romance, mines female friendships for intimacy, and struggles to find her footing, she writes letters to her mother, both to conjure a closeness they never had and to try to translate her experiences to herself. When she finds out she is pregnant, Agnes begins to contend with what it means to be a mother and, in some ways, what it means to be your own mother.